Knitters at North Delta’s Kennedy Seniors’ Recreation Centre recently donated thousands of hand-made newborn hats as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of so-called “purple crying” and prevent shaken baby syndrome.
For the last decade, members of the Kennedy’s Crafty Ladies group have been knitting the tiny purple toques as part of the Click for Babies Campaign, an international effort to raise awareness of a normal part of infant development dubbed the “period of purple crying,” during which babies will cry unexpectedly and seemingly without reason for long periods of time, often with a pained look on their face, and usually resisting all efforts to soothe them.
The tiny purple caps are distributed to new parents as a reminder that purple crying is normal and to be expected, and that, while it’s natural to feel frustrated during that time, caregivers should never shake or strike babies as it can cause irreparable damage, even death.
Last month, the Crafty Ladies gave 5,010 to BC Children’s Hospital, the product of three years of work at home while COVID-19 restrictions prevented the group from meeting, and the hospital from accepting donations.
“We normally do anywhere from 1,500 to 1,700 [baby hats] a year,” Crafty Lady Franca Babuin told the Reporter, noting everyone knits in their own style and at their own pace, making as many or as few of the hats as they like.
“This is leisure stuff,” she said.
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With the onset of the pandemic, member/co-ordinator Colleen Hopkins helped keep the group going, knitting over 900 hats herself and collecting the group’s output at her home until such time as the restrictions against accepting donations at the hospital were lifted.
By the time they were picked up last month, the knitters had so many hats ready to go they nearly didn’t all fit into the representative from BC Children’s Hospital’s car.
“She couldn’t get over it,” Hopkins said. “We had 25 bags of 200 hats each.”
“She was overwhelmed,” Babuin added. “She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.”
Crafty Ladies is one of Kennedy’s oldest groups — its members have been donating the fruits of their labour to worthwhile causes since 1974 — and currently has around 16 knitters who meet Tuesdays and Fridays.
“Wherever we can help, we donate,” Hopkins said.
“We do different things. It’s wherever we can support the community. Everybody [brings] different ideas. (…) If one person doesn’t know [how to do it], the other one does, usually.”
“Oh yeah, it’s a share of ideas, and different things come up at different times,” Babuin said.
“Believe me, we have some very good and talented knitters. And their knitting is perfect, like they could go professional.”
Last month’s donation is in addition to the more than 11,000 baby hats the ladies have made and donated over the last 10 years.
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With the hefty stockpile of newborn hats delivered, the ladies are now focusing their attention on their other initiatives.
At the behest of Children’s Hospital, which now has enough purple hats to last a while, the ladies are knitting caps for toddlers to be distributed to families in need across B.C. — by the end of last month, they had already completed around 20 — and, as they have for years, the group continues to knit layettes (sets of clothing, toilet articles and bedclothes for newborn children) that Options Community Services distributes through its Healthiest Babies Possible program to vulnerable families in Delta, Surrey and White Rock.
“I think we’ve done close to 200 [layettes],” Babuin said.
“Maybe even more,” Hopkins added, “because in April we donated 31, and we’ve got a great big load going out again.”
But the group’s main focus right now is knitting hats and scarves, as well as collecting or purchasing new socks and gloves, to help the area’s unhoused population.
“We started the toques because people are in need. I mean, it’s so bad out there, but even if they can have a toque and gloves… we’re trying to do what we can,” Hopkins said.
Babuin said she didn’t keep an exact count, but was “quite sure” the group had more than 100 toques and over 50 scarves ready to donate to Surrey’s NightShift Street Ministries Society and other organizations helping locals in need.
“One [adult] toque takes a good day to make. A hat for Children’s Hospital takes three hours,” Hopkins said.
“But [the ladies] knit at their leisure,” Babuin added. “It’s not that you have to produce 100 hats or you have to produce five hats. It’s at your leisure.”
All of the materials used in the Crafty Ladies’ projects are either donated by the group’s members or others at the Kennedy, or purchased using donated funds (as is the case with the socks and gloves for the homeless).
Members of the public can also help by donating yarn, new socks and gloves, or cash to support the group’s various initiatives.
To arrange to donate, phone the Kennedy Seniors’ Recreation Centre at 604-594-2717.
— with files from Kathryn Wu
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